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Nashville Predators awards for a terrible December

By Steve Cook

OTTAWA, ON - DECEMBER 17: Roman Josi #59 of the Nashville Predators celebrates his second period goal against the Ottawa Senators with teammates Craig Smith #15, Ryan Ellis #4 and Ryan Johansen #92 at Canadian Tire Centre on December 17, 2018 in Ottawa, Ontario, Canada. (Photo by Andre Ringuette/NHLI via Getty Images)
OTTAWA, ON - DECEMBER 17: Roman Josi #59 of the Nashville Predators celebrates his second period goal against the Ottawa Senators with teammates Craig Smith #15, Ryan Ellis #4 and Ryan Johansen #92 at Canadian Tire Centre on December 17, 2018 in Ottawa, Ontario, Canada. (Photo by Andre Ringuette/NHLI via Getty Images) /
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OTTAWA, ON – DECEMBER 17: Roman Josi #59 of the Nashville Predators celebrates his second period goal against the Ottawa Senators with teammates Craig Smith #15, Ryan Ellis #4 and Ryan Johansen #92 at Canadian Tire Centre on December 17, 2018 in Ottawa, Ontario, Canada. (Photo by Andre Ringuette/NHLI via Getty Images)
OTTAWA, ON – DECEMBER 17: Roman Josi #59 of the Nashville Predators celebrates his second period goal against the Ottawa Senators with teammates Craig Smith #15, Ryan Ellis #4 and Ryan Johansen #92 at Canadian Tire Centre on December 17, 2018 in Ottawa, Ontario, Canada. (Photo by Andre Ringuette/NHLI via Getty Images) /

December produced a roller-coaster ride for the Nashville Predators & their fans. We managed to survive & reflect over the best & worst.

If the 2018-19 Nashville Predators season ends up being a roller-coaster ride, Predators fans should feel pretty happy. Nashville reached incredible highs in October. The top of the hill, perhaps. Things started going downhill in November, and possibly reached the bottom in December. The Predators’ record has gotten worse each month. We’re hoping December is the low.

To be honest, the Predators have plenty of excuses. More accurately, plenty of injured players. Filip Forsberg didn’t play a single game in December. Viktor Arvidsson & P.K Subban didn’t play the vast majority of them. Taking those guys out of the lineup takes a lot out of the Nashville Predators. There isn’t enough depth to take care of that. The Predators tried, and they got off to a good start in December, but eventually they hit a wall. The Winnipeg Jets went on a hot streak at the same time and took the top spot in the Central Division. All we can hope for is the Predators being healthy whenever they end up facing off with Winnipeg, as anybody that follows either team knows that’s what it’ll come to.

It was tough trying to find award-winners this month, but we did the best we could.

Best Unsung Predator: Colton Sissons

Somebody needed to step up. With Filip Forsberg, Viktor Arvidsson & P.K. Subban out of action, the Nashville Predators needed some unsung heroes to step up & take their place. Nobody took Subban’s place, as Nashville traded away their depth at defenseman long before. Remember Samuel Girard? Sure would have been nice to have him now!

Some guys showed some flashes & not much else. Colton Sissons’ flash lasted longer than the others though. He had a nice four-game point streak going during the month. 2 points against Vancouver were followed up by one against Calgary, then one against Ottawa & two against Vancouver, including a game-winning goal. We all felt good about Sissons at this point. It seemed like he was sneaking into top-six consideration even after everybody else got healthy. It would only make sense. Sissons has come up big for the Predators in previous situations where injuries were an issue. He was one of those guys that came up big during the 2016-17 playoff run and made it a playoff run.

Of course, Sissons got injured two games later & ended up on IR. Because every member of the Nashville Predators will be on IR before this season ends. Spoiler alert.

Best Predators GIF: The most intense ceremonial puck drop you’ll ever see

There was a little more on the line than usual for one of these things. Scott Hartnell, former Predator & Flyer, put $100 up for the winner. Sure, they’re millionaires, but $100 can cover a bar tab pretty easily most nights. Roman Josi came up a little short to Claude Giroux, and unfortunately, it wasn’t the only loss of the night for the Nashville Predators.

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